The Cooper Hewitt Smithsonian Design Museum in New York City is the only museum in the United States entirely dedicated to historic and contemporary design.
After closing its doors for a massive renovation a few years ago, Cooper Hewitt reopened the century-old mansion in New York. In its new incarnation, it distinguishes itself as a design museum that celebrates design objects with compelling perspectives through active educational and curatorial programming.
What makes Cooper Hewitt even more unique is that it holds public talks, events, and workshops throughout the year that feature design experts and designers from a range of fields. This includes book design, architecture, graphic design, and much more.
Can’t attend an event in person? Check out their talks live on their YouTube channel. Below are a few highlights from recent lectures.
Design for Work and Play
Museum curators Cynthia Trope and Emily Orr give a Design Talk featuring the exhibition “Energizing the Everyday,” which recognizes the collecting vision of industrial design collector George Kravis. The exhibit, on view until March 2017, features the Kravis collection from the early 20th century to the present.
This live lecture discusses how twentieth-century designers turned to the daily routines of work as the inspiration for new developments in technology, style, and materials. They redesigned everything from furniture, tableware, and typewriters to televisions and radios.
Design Solutions for Curbing Textile Waste
The panel discussion is given in combination with the exhibit “Scraps: Fashion, Textiles, and Creative Reuse,” which features creative and alternative techniques to highlight textile industry waste. Through more than 40 pieces of work, the exhibit presents the work of three designers: Christina Kim, Reiko Sudo, and Luisa Cevese. Inspired by traditions of reusable materials, labor, and creativity, each designer has created innovative solutions for curbing textile waste.
Cowcumbers and Cornucopia: Rediscovering the Grotesque in Design
Sarah Grant, curator of Prints at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum, gives a lecture in conjunction with the exhibit “Fragile Beasts,” on view through January 2017. The exhibit features close to 70 rare ornament drawings and prints of unique creatures from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
As the curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Sarah Grant manages the British national collection of engraved ornaments. Her recent projects include leading the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation to showcase the museum’s 28,000 ornament prints and curating its 2015 display on the ornament of French architect Ennemond Alexandre Petitot.
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